Ideas from CBC Radio (Highlights)

His name was Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell. Who was the man who gave us 'big brother', 'thoughtcrime', 'doublethink'? Steve Wadhams delves into recordings he made with the people who knew Orwell from his earliest days to his final moments.

We have the best communications in history, except for the kind that matters -- nations and states understanding each other. Jennifer Welsh, Paul Heinbecker, Peter Boehm, Arne Kislenko and Daniel Eayrs in conversation from the Stratford Festival.

Science helps us understand ourselves and our own place in the cosmos. But how far does the math take us, and what do science and the humanities tell us when we look at the same questions from different points of view?

Lorena Fontaine is completing her PhD at the University of Manitoba and is battling to revive aboriginal languages. She argues that Canadian indigenous communities have a legal right to the survival of language.

Trauma is not a story about the past -- it lives in the present: in both the mind and body. Left untreated, it has no expiration date, whether it's trauma arising from childhood abuse or PTSD suffered as an adult.

In his book “Homo Deus”, Yuval Harari argues that humankind is on the verge of transforming itself: advances creating networked intelligences will surpass our own in speed, capability and impact. But where will this leave us?

Nearly 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville travelled the United States trying to understand its strengths and weaknesses. Less than a month before Americans go to the polls, Paul Kennedy considers the ongoing relevance of Tocqueville's observations.

Philosophy PhD student Andrew Peterson is embedded with scientists at the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University and considers the ethical and moral questions emerging from this cutting edge research.

Producer John Chipman explores why some people stick to their moral codes more stringently than others, and delves into the latest neuroimaging research to find out what it can tell us about what guides our moral decisions.

Nearly 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville travelled the United States trying to understand its strengths and weaknesses. Less than a month before Americans go to the polls, Paul Kennedy considers the ongoing relevance of Tocqueville's observations.

By reconnecting with his birth mother PhD student Jesse Thistle came to understand the effects of intergenerational trauma. His award-winning research shines a light on the struggles and the resilience of Métis communities in northern Saskatchewan.

Mohawk education advocate Roberta Jamieson believes Canada is at a make-or-break historical moment where it has a chance to recast its historically toxic relationship with First Nations for the next 150 years.

Sociologist Aladin El-Mafalaani sees anti-immigrant cries to build walls, and hate-fuelled politics counter-intuitively: a sign that integration is working. Conflict, he argues, is the necessary consequence of new arrivals at a metaphoric dinner table.

Political scientist Neera Chandhoke makes a heartfelt argument for a secular India. Against the growing tide of Hindu nationalism and India's history of inter-religious strife, she draws on Western and Indian thinkers to make the case for diversity.

Counter-terrorism, fighting cybercrime, policing highly diverse societies: Can the police do it all? Should the police do it all? Do the police want to do it all? A panel discussion about what it means to police and be policed today.

Our climate is changing and because of it, our oceans and rivers are rising. In the past, we used large, manmade infrastructure to keep the water at bay. But maybe instead of trying to fight off nature, we should start working with it instead.

Across Canada, our city cores are becoming indistinguishable jumbles of tall glass buildings - new and shiny always seems to beat heritage or repurposing. Four prominent architects discuss ways to tear down the edifices of modern planning and design.

Relations between the public and the police are strained today: from charges of police violence, abuse and racial bias to calls for transparency and greater police accountability. A panel discussion about what it means to police and be policed today.

Radioactive waste and toxic mining byproducts will remain deadly for thousands of years – maybe forever. Deep in the arsenic-contaminated underground at Giant Mine near Yellowknife, contributor Garth Mullins wonders how we can warn the distant future.

Shakespeare's play tells us all about how Lord and Lady Macbeth plotted the killing of their king, Duncan. They killed him, that's for sure, but was it murder? You and I might say, guilty but a lawyer might say — not so fast: they were bewitched!

Suggestive, romantic, sexy orchids! It turns out they're even sexier in their own world. Wily, deceptive, manipulating: get ready to travel between history and science, how we humans think about orchids and who they really are in nature among themselves.

Once a year, the Canada Council Killam Prize is bestowed on five of Canada's top academics in five different fields. Paul Kennedy interviews this year's winners and finds out what inspires them to break new ground.

Writers seem to be more attracted to baseball than to any other sport, but philosopher Mark Kingwell recently published the first book-length philosophical consideration of what has long been called America's national pastime.

The novel -- an art form that's centuries old -- still has the capacity to hold our attention from subway commute to library chair. But we tell ourselves we're in a different era now. What's to become of serious writing in our hyperfast, overcaffeinated,

In her book Why Grow Up? Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age, Paul Kennedy talks with philosopher Susan Neiman, who believes that "Having created societies that our young want to grow up into, we idealize the stages of youth."

In 1876, the poet Stephane Mallarme published a poem entitled The Afternoon of a Faun. He doubted anyone could set it to music successfully. But composer Claude Debussy did exactly that. A look at the magic of Debussy's imagining.

There are now more pets than children in North American homes, and lavish dog beds and catnip mice are taking the place of bassinets and rattles. Kelley Jo Burke explores what we're really saying about who we are when we start bringing up 'furbabies

American journalist Robert F. Worth joins Paul Kennedy in conversation about his book, A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS. Worth is this year's winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize.

They may be successful writers, but that doesn't mean the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award winners are immune from worry about the world around us. Authors share some brand new work on that theme.

How do we know when we've won? Some people argue that World War I was just the opening act for the World War II, and perhaps World War III is just around the corner. Stephen Toope, Janice Stein and Hugh Segal in conversation.